We’ve just moved in to a fabulous incubation space at Bendyworks, an agile technology juggernaut in Madison, WI.

The move empowers MagazineLiteracy.org to tap the enormous spirit of the Madison community to assemble a team charged to grow and improve our operations and service to hundreds of grassroots volunteers on the ground in communities across the U.S. Meeting literacy needs at the community level with all-volunteer teams is and always will be our bedrock – but these literacy champions need support to learn and to grow so they and we can meet our full literacy promise.

The collaborative space at Bendyworks allows us to be nimble and to keep operations modest and highly leveraged, while fostering our strength and continuity. We’ve already kicked off 2013 with an incredible team of interns from the nearby University of Wisconsin and now, thanks to the Bendyworks’ co-working space, we are embedded in the rich, cultural, and technological vibe of the Madison community – ready to serve magazine literacy needs from coast to coast.

Today, creative/technical workers can literally live and work anywhere. A large number of folks choose to work in Madison and either freelance or work remotely for companies on the east or west coast. Bendyworks’ dedicated desk co-working gives them the opportunity to talk and interact with humans rather than just their cats.

This brief email or social media note can be used to collect magazines for literacy. Send it to your coworkers, fellow students, neighbors, friends and family. Contact us to learn how to bundle the magazines for literacy programs:

Magazine Harvest…

I’d love to collect your “gently” read magazines and recycle them to at-risk kids, teens, and families. The magazines can be dropped [fill in a location here… for example, “on or near my desk.”] Any types of magazines are valuable.

They should be “good” or “very good” condition. Very good is like new. Good means no torn or cut covers or pages, not water or moisture damage, etc.

I”ll remove paper or obscure ink mailing labels with a permanent marker (or you can do that too) to protect privacy and then I’ll cover the spot with a new “gift” label – rather than cutting or tearing the labels off.

The magazines will provide to MagazineLiteracy.org, which which focuses on meeting the literacy needs of at-risk kids, teens, adults, and families served by:

homeless shelters

homeless student programs

food pantries

domestic violence shelters

mentoring programs

job training programs

foster care

Thank you for being a Magazine Literacy Champion!

]]>jmennellLiteracy takes flight in New Jersey with Boy Scout Eagle Projecthttps://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/literacy-takes-flight-in-new-jersey-as-a-boy-scout-eagle-project/
Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:31:26 +0000http://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=1371Continue reading →]]>Surya has been organizing a very successful Magazine Harvest as his Boy Scout Eagle Project in New Jersey – collecting over 1,200 magazines for new readers. The magazines are being sorted, labeled, and bundled in USPS flat rate boxes for delivery to new readers. Surya and his team are creating a list of the magazines in each bundle, which are organized by topic for easy selection by literacy programs.

Magazine Bundles for New Readers

]]>jmennellEagle ProjectMagazine Bundles for New ReadersMagazines from dentists make new readers smilehttps://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/magazines-from-dentists-make-new-readers-smile/
Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:28:34 +0000http://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=1356Continue reading →]]>My lifelong love for magazines started with reading Highlights at the dentist office – and I know I’m not alone in that experience. To this day, I can’t pass a Highlights without picking it up to look for hidden pictures. So reading magazines in the dentist office is the seed that grew to become MagazineLiteracy.org and dentists continue to receive and share so many wonderful magazines in their waiting areas with their patients. Let’s tap this enormous potential – putting a smile on the face of new readers, while your dentist brightens yours.

Organized literacy efforts among health professionals are not unprecedented. For example, Reach out and Read is an amazing program empowered by pediatric physicians. Dental offices receive many wonderful magazines each month to share with readers in their waiting rooms and cycle through them as new issues come in. We know from working with many dentist that they love the idea of giving the magazines a new life by sending them to our literacy programs.

Whether you are a dentist or a patient – contact us to help grow our “Make Readers Smile” project. Every dentist can participate – strengthening the breadth and depth of our magazine literacy supply chain. In addition to supplying their own magazines, the visibility can encourage patients to be involved too – perhaps by recycling their own magazines to new readers and volunteering to build up our local literacy teams.

I’m smiling already!

]]>jmennellHighlights for ChildrenThank you Folio: for celebrating our magazine literacy workhttps://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/thank-you-folio-for-celebrating-our-magazine-literacy-work/
Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:18:14 +0000http://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=1363Continue reading →]]>We are so honored and thankful to Folio: magazine for recognizing our global literacy project in their Top 40 list this year. Our work is made possible by the generous support and active involvement of publishers and every type of magazine industry stakeholder throughout the entire magazine supply chain, from printers to consumers.

There is a role for everyone to play in changing the world – one magazine at a time. Become part of our story!

]]>jmennellFolio Top 40Harvest magazines at work to recycle to new readershttps://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/harvest-magazines-at-work-to-recycle-to-new-readers/
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:40:57 +0000http://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=1326Continue reading →]]>

Office Magazine Harvest

Here’s a sample email you can send to your colleagues to collect and recycle magazines to new readers. Pack and ship clean, gently read magazines with no torn or cut covers or pages to us and we’ll deliver them to kids and families in shelters and other literacy programs. It feels good to share the magazines you love and they are very much appreciated and enjoyed. Carefully remove paper and mark out ink mailing labels, and we’ll take care of the rest.

Magazines are great – we love to get them and read them. Please join me in recycling “gently read” magazines to new readers – homeless families… moms and kids in domestic violence shelters… via food pantries… etc.

I’ve set up a collection box for any magazines you’d like to share. Don’t worry about mailing labels – I’ll remove or mark them out with a permanent marker, and MagazineLiteracy.org will cover up the spot with a fresh “gift” label.

Any magazines that a child or adult would enjoy are needed – as long as they are clean with no torn or cut covers or pages, or water or moisture damage.

Thank you Tiffany for helping organize this Getting Started article for people who want to collect magazines at home to recycle to new readers. Join us to start recycling magazines today. Here’s another article for those who want to be part of a local magazine recycling team.

Hello and welcome to magazineliteracy.org where our mission is to change the world— one magazine at a time. Out of the goodness of your heart, you have decided to donate some magazines to one of our wonderful programs. We are so appreciative and thrilled that you have decided to do this!

The process of recycling is easy and we want to make the process as simple as possible for you so you can feel comfortable about donating again and again! This article will explain the process step by step for you.

First things first – gather all your gently used magazines – clean, with not torn pages or covers, and in good or very good condition. Carefully remove any paper mailing labels and black out ink labels with a permanent marker. This protects your personal information and allows for a more dignified experience for the new magazine owner and we want your magazines, NOT your personal information. Once we receive your magazines, we will put our own “gift” labels over the spot where the old label was.

That’s all there is to it. Just bundle up your magazines for a local donation bin or ship them to us.

So, that is the process for donating your gently used magazines! Super simple right?! I hope this article helps! If you have any questions, please be in touch.

Tiffany

]]>jmennellGetting a local or school project started for recycling magazines to new readershttps://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/getting-started-with-recycling-magazines-for-new-readers/
Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:11:08 +0000http://magazineliteracy.wordpress.com/?p=1307Continue reading →]]>

Hello and welcome to MagazineLiteracy.org where magazines are our specialty and our mission is to change the world—one magazine at a time! A brief overview of what we do: We collect and donate new and gently used magazines to the various programs we work with to share the magazines we love and to support literacy: domestic violence and homeless shelters; foster care, youth mentoring centers, etc. In this article, you will read just what we expect from you to help us spread the joy of reading with thousands of families all around the world!

We say “…The process of recycling is easy as 1, 2 3!…” and we really do mean that! The first step is to start collecting magazines. This can happen at the local grocery or book store, at your school, club or business, or even in your own home or apartment building.

The magazines we share with new readers should be in good or very good condition – clean, with no torn or cut covers or pages.

An important step is to remove any mailing labels, to protect personal information and to allow a more dignified experience for the new magazine owner. Carefully remove paper labels and black out ink labels with a permanent black marker. Then cover the spot with one of our “gift” labels. Contact us to get some. Simply place the “gift” label over the blacked out information or where the paper label once was. Repeat this with every magazine.

Next, sort your magazines by age group and topic. Once your bundle is ready, we’ll help get it posted where literacy programs can find it and request it. Be in touch for more information about this step.

That’s it! You have just helped a child, their family, or a few dozen children and their families experience the joy of reading! What a wonderful feeling that is…I hope you found this article informative and if you have any problems or comments, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

MAGnificent Maggie the Literacy Bee joins Max to promote our magazine recycling to new readers. Maggie and Max were created by a most talented children’s illustrator, Aja Wells. We are looking forward to buzzing around with them to tell our stories and to inspire people and businesses to recycle magazines to moms, kids, and families who love to read them.